1. United States
2. Colo.
3. Letter

I am urgently demanding that Congress take immediate and decisive action to save Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from Israel’s ongoing torture, medical neglect, and unlawful detention. Dr. Abu Safiya is a Palestinian pediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital. He was abducted by Israeli forces from Gaza in December 2024 after refusing to abandon his patients while Israel attacked, besieged, and dismantled Gaza’s healthcare system. He was not captured on a battlefield. He was a doctor saving lives while Israel was killing civilians, bombing hospitals, and targeting Palestinian healthcare workers. He is being held without charge under Israel’s so-called Unlawful Combatants Law. This is not justice. It is a system of disappearance, secret evidence, indefinite detention, denial of lawyers, denial of medical care, and imprisonment without proof of any crime. His appeal was reportedly rejected based on “secret files” that neither he nor his lawyer are allowed to see. If Israel had evidence, it could charge him. Instead, it is hiding behind secret proceedings. Dr. Abu Safiya is not merely “at risk of dying in Israeli custody.” Israeli custody is the danger. Israeli actions — abduction, disappearance, torture, starvation, denial of medication, denial of medical treatment, denial of glasses, shackling, solitary confinement, and continued imprisonment without charge — are what will directly and foreseeably cause his death unless there is immediate intervention. According to Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Israeli authorities initially failed to confirm where Dr. Abu Safiya was being held, despite footage of his arrest. It reportedly took weeks to confirm his detention, months before a lawyer could meet him, and PHR-I’s lawyer was blocked for nine months despite repeated approvals. Now, after legal petitions challenging his detention, he has reportedly been placed in solitary confinement for more than three weeks, with no human communication 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is retaliation. Every minute he remains there is another minute Israel is actively endangering his life. His reported condition is horrifying: major weight loss, starvation, untreated scabies, denial of medication, denial of glasses, physical violence, bruising, shackling, back pain from abuse, solitary confinement, and medical neglect. Reports describe detainees being shackled even during medical examinations. These are not “detention conditions.” They are torture conditions. This is not isolated. Dr. Abu Safiya is one of at least 14 Palestinian doctors reportedly held without charge, along with dozens of nurses and paramedics. Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh was also disappeared into Israeli custody, denied access to lawyers, family, and the ICRC, and later died in Ofer Prison. Congress must not wait for Dr. Abu Safiya to become another name on that list. Israel is not only imprisoning these doctors. It is trying to silence them. Israeli authorities know that if Dr. Abu Safiya and other detained Palestinian physicians are released, the world will hear what they endured. The state of Israel is afraid of a pediatrician because he can testify. Congress has been warned. If Dr. Abu Safiya dies, his death will not be an accident, a tragedy, or an unavoidable consequence of war. It will be the direct and foreseeable result of Israeli torture, starvation, medical neglect, and unlawful detention — and his blood will be on the hands of every member of Congress who had the power to act and chose delay, silence, empty statements, or continued support for Israel instead. Action after the fact is not an acceptable excuse for failure to act right now. The United States is not a bystander. Multiple U.S. administrations, including the Trump and Biden administrations, have armed, funded, shielded, and enabled Israel’s military, prison, and torture regime. U.S. weapons and diplomatic protection have made Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civilians, hospitals, doctors, detainees, and patients possible. Congress must immediately demand Dr. Abu Safiya’s unconditional release, independent medical care, legal access, family access, ICRC access, UN and WHO access, an end to solitary confinement and retaliation, disclosure of all Palestinian healthcare workers detained by Israel, and an independent investigation into his abduction, disappearance, torture, starvation, and unlawful detention. Congress must also press the White House, State Department, World Medical Association, American Medical Association, and other medical bodies to publicly demand the release of Dr. Abu Safiya and all detained Palestinian healthcare workers. Do not wait until Israel kills him. Do not issue condolences after enabling the conditions that caused his death. Use every ounce of congressional power now. Silence is complicity. Delay is complicity. Save Dr. Abu Safiya now. I am urgently demanding that Congress take immediate and decisive action to save Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from Israel’s ongoing torture, medical neglect, and unlawful detention. Dr. Abu Safiya is a Palestinian pediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital. He was abducted by Israeli forces from Gaza in December 2024 after refusing to abandon his patients while Israel attacked, besieged, and dismantled Gaza’s healthcare system. He was not captured on a battlefield. He was a doctor saving lives while Israel was killing civilians, bombing hospitals, and targeting Palestinian healthcare workers. He is being held without charge under Israel’s so-called Unlawful Combatants Law. This is not justice. It is a system of disappearance, secret evidence, indefinite detention, denial of lawyers, denial of medical care, and imprisonment without proof of any crime. His appeal was reportedly rejected based on “secret files” that neither he nor his lawyer are allowed to see. If Israel had evidence, it could charge him. Instead, it is hiding behind secret proceedings. Dr. Abu Safiya is not merely “at risk of dying in Israeli custody.” Israeli custody is the danger. Israeli actions — abduction, disappearance, torture, starvation, denial of medication, denial of medical treatment, denial of glasses, shackling, solitary confinement, and continued imprisonment without charge — are what will directly and foreseeably cause his death unless there is immediate intervention. According to Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Israeli authorities initially failed to confirm where Dr. Abu Safiya was being held, despite footage of his arrest. It reportedly took weeks to confirm his detention, months before a lawyer could meet him, and PHR-I’s lawyer was blocked for nine months despite repeated approvals. Now, after legal petitions challenging his detention, he has reportedly been placed in solitary confinement for more than three weeks, with no human communication 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is retaliation. Every minute he remains there is another minute Israel is actively endangering his life. His reported condition is horrifying: major weight loss, starvation, untreated scabies, denial of medication, denial of glasses, physical violence, bruising, shackling, back pain from abuse, solitary confinement, and medical neglect. Reports describe detainees being shackled even during medical examinations. These are not “detention conditions.” They are torture conditions. This is not isolated. Dr. Abu Safiya is one of at least 14 Palestinian doctors reportedly held without charge, along with dozens of nurses and paramedics. Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh was also disappeared into Israeli custody, denied access to lawyers, family, and the ICRC, and later died in Ofer Prison. Congress must not wait for Dr. Abu Safiya to become another name on that list. Israel is not only imprisoning these doctors. It is trying to silence them. Israeli authorities know that if Dr. Abu Safiya and other detained Palestinian physicians are released, the world will hear what they endured. Israel is afraid of a pediat